The Atlantic Pipeline

Fracking has produced massive amounts of natural gas in West Virginia. North Carolina and Virginia want some.

Now, Duke Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas have announced they would team up with AGL and Richmond-based Dominion to make that possible -- building a pipeline through Virginia. The news provoked an outcry from the environmental community and grassroots groups.

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Sandy Hausman reports.

Governor Terry McAuliffe, who got $150,000 in campaign contributions from Dominion during the last election cycle, stood beside the company’s CEO and pronounced the 550-mile pipeline a game changer for Virginia’s economy.

“As this project gets underway, the construction and permitting phase alone will generate 1.4 billion in economic activity in Virginia, and create 8,800 new jobs for the Commonwealth of Virginia.”

Once complete, the pipeline will sustain just 188 jobs, but McAuliffe said cheap new supplies of energy could help Virginia renew its manufacturing sector while cutting the state’s carbon emissions. Critics warn that the pipeline will encourage more fracking, which releases methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that traps heat. They said investing in solar and wind energy would generate far more jobs without making climate change worse.

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Proposed natural gas pipelines that would carry fuel from West Virginia to North Carolina have raised protest all over the state. In Floyd, residents are seeing unmarked trucks with unidentified drivers showing up on their land asking to do a site survey, presumably for siting of the pipeline. The town is calling upon the power companies behind to explain their intentions.

It has the feel of a stealth operation. Power companies Next Era Energy and EQT have still not contacted town leaders but surveyors have visited landowners who own property along the proposed route.

Charlottesville, Richmond and Roanoke are following Blacksburg’s lead in launching campaigns to promote solar power on residential rooftops. By purchasing panels in bulk, organizers can offer substantial discounts. It’s a strategy that one University of Virginia graduate is using to persuade the nation that renewable is do-able.

Fracking has produced a glut of oil and gas in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Energy companies are desperate to get those products to market, and utilities are anxious to make the switch from coal to clean-burning gas.

There is, however, something standing in the way – people who want nothing to do with pipelines in their communities. In Nelson County, three groups have already formed to fight a pipeline that would also pass through Buckingham, Dinwiddie and Brunswick counties en route to North Carolina.

This week, the Richmond Times-Dispatch said the state’s largest electric utility, Dominion Power, was exploring solar energy in Virginia and environmentalists cheered. But the utility isn’t making any promises, and the state lags far behind its neighbors when it comes to green energy.

When it comes to offshore wind energy development, some environmental organizations say Virginia leaders are on the right track, but they need to greatly pick up the pace. An alliance that includes Environment Virginia and the Virginia Conservation Network says other East Coast states are eyeing wind-turbine dominance. The groups say the slow-moving Commonwealth could lose out on many of the benefits associated with its development.